Senegal: a journalist arrested and another abused during the weekend
During this weekend, a journalist was assaulted in a demonstration and another journalist was arrested the following day.
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Pape Alé Niang, a Senegalese journalist, was arrested on Sunday 6 November at his home and taken into police custody.
He is accused of having made defamatory remarks against officers of the gendarmerie and distributed secret army documents.
The day before, Fatou Dione was assaulted by the police when she was covering a demonstration.
Two cases that have provoked the ire of a union of journalists.
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Journalist
Pape Alé Niang
was arrested for "
receiving and publishing military documents without authorization from the hierarchy likely to harm national defence, calling for subversion and spreading false news
".
According to Me Ciré Cledor Ly, one of his lawyers, it was on the order of the public prosecutor that the police arrested the journalist, reports our correspondent,
Birahim Touré.
He is accused of having made defamatory remarks against the gendarmerie and of having disseminated classified documents on the “
Sweat Beauty
” affair during a live broadcast on Facebook, Thursday, November 6.
The name of the case comes from a massage parlor where one of the employees accuses
Ousmane Sonko
, one of the Senegalese opposition leaders, of rape.
Serious accusations according to the journalist's lawyer who believes that we are trying to muzzle him.
Several organisations, including the Syndicate of Journalists and Communication Professionals (Synpics), denounced the arrest of Pape Alé Niang.
Part of the political class also “
denounced an attempt to intimidate journalists
”.
For the moment, the judicial authorities and the police have not communicated on this case.
“
These attacks must stop
”
The case of Pape Alé Niang is not the only one that has made the Synpics react.
On Saturday, another Senegalese journalist Fatou Dione was assaulted by security forces during a demonstration.
The reporter passed out and was taken to the hospital.
For the union, this is
too much aggression
and it alerted the authorities two weeks ago to the increase in violence against journalists.
"
These attacks must stop because journalists are important players in democracy
," protests Maguette Ndong, spokesperson for Synpics, reached by telephone by
Guillaume Thibault
of the Africa editorial staff.
All minds are focused on 2024 which are really major deadlines in Senegalese political life.
And we believe that the press has a major role to play in relaying these events so that opinion is built on what is happening in Senegal.
»
►Also read: In Senegal, a sit-in of media professionals worried about threats to the profession
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